Saturday, October 21, 2006

Inside/Outside

This is the blog challenge I posted last Sunday. I myself didn't even complete the challenge until just this minute. See? I TOLD you I've been undisciplined!

Pick a day this week, and blog about what's going on outside and what's going on inside. I'm thinking in literal terms: outside your house and inside your house. Or outside your place of business and inside it. But if you want to get creative, feel free to blog about YOU - what's going on inside as opposed to what you're allowing the world to see on the outside.Extra points for posting photos! If you can't post photos, then do your best to illustrate with your words. Give us a clear visual of what's happening inside and out!Don't worry about your house being messy, or your outside being boring. Document a day this week, just as you're living it. Tell us about the sounds outside and the sounds inside... or what the squirrels are eating and what you're eating... or what the temp is out there and how comfy you are inside... or what needs to be done outside and what needs to be done inside.Whatever. Be creative. Just blog about inside/outside. I haven't done mine yet.

INSIDE:Yesterday, after I blogged, and after Elaine blogged, we challenged each other. Today, ALL DAY, we were supposed to stay away from the computer and focus on getting a specific task completed.

Mine was a 3" stack of photos that I needed to scrap.I'm a 3" stack away from getting paid for this job and moving on to the next one. Since noon today, I've gotten about 2/3 of the way through that stack. I've scrapped 22 layouts. YAY!!!

I think our challenge inspired Darren, too, because before I even rolled out of bed this morning, he'd done two loads of laundry and made a trip to the hardware store. This afternoon, he removed the downstairs toilet to try and figure out why it hasn't flushed properly in forever. We figured it was probably a toy, but it wasn't. It was a lid. It looked suspiciously like one of the lids from Ashlie cat litter jugs. We scratched our chins and tried to figure out why a lid was jammed down in the bowels of our toilet. Could it be...

AIDAN? "Yah," he answered. At my birthday party (which was last December), I put one of my new pirate guys on it and pretended it was a boat, and then I flushed it and watched it start going down and I rescued my pirate guy, but I couldn't rescue the boat in time."

Ok, then. Mystery solved.

Meanwhile, OUTSIDE, Bobbie scubbed the pecan sap off the front porch. It's white again. YAY! This year has been horrible for pecan sap. A google search informed me that this constant fine mist of sap is caused by aphids, which don't cause harm to the trees, but DO cause big-time nasty messes for me. Grrr.

Discipline. Today, I found it again. I actually was logged on to the internet all day long. I had my favorite radio station streaming to keep me company, but I didn't abuse my logged-on status. I didn't check my favorite blogs or ScrapShare. I didn't google. I didn't even answer emails, save for one that I couldn't resist answering, and even THEN, I was only in my Inbox because I was waiting for an answer from the client whose photos I'm scrapping.

Just before I sat down to blog (which I told Elaine last night I would be doing tonight, so I'm not really cheating), I logged on the SCrapShare to copy and paste my challenge. But I did not go to any other forums. I did not open any other threads. I did not collect $200, even though I saw a thread at the very top of the forum that I REALLLLLLY wanted to open and respond to. It said, "Have you ever tried Coke Blak?" Well, yes. Yes, I have. I love coffee, and I love Coke. But never the two shall meet in my mouth again. SputterSputterNastyNastyNasty!!! The biggest waste of $2 I ever spent. I should go back to 7-11 and demand my two dollars back. Like that guy in the '80s movie "Better Off Dead": "I want my two dollars! Give me my two dollars!"

Okay. Enough dillydallying. I'm heading back to my studio now.Thanks for the challenge, E! I can't wait to see the pics of what YOU got done! :)